Step 5: Experimenting: Ice (Version 2)

Step 6: Your Experiments

ThatHippyMan writes::"After playing with my mixture a while, I started adding alot more water then immediatly microwaving it. Its almost like ballisti...

This instructable will show you how to make a simple non-Newtonian fluid out of corn starch and water.

Our matter will turn into a solid when pressure is exerted on it, and will turn into a liquid when little or no pressure is exerted on it.

"It's not that this fluid doesn't have a well defined viscosity (because we can mathematically define the fluid viscosity) -- it's that this fluid's viscosity is defined as a function of the rate of shear - that is, the fluid acts more viscous as you increase shear - a dilatant fluid"trebuchet03

Materials needed for this experiment:~Corn Starch (About as much water as you are using)~Water~Containers~Stirring rod (or anything to stir with)~Ice~Freezer~Microwave

Step 1: Mix it!

Put water in a big bowl/container you adding corn starch until the water becomes extremely tough to stir. It has also been described as a syrupy texture, but you should be able to feel a difference. If you are not sure, you can test it by applying pressure with the poke of your finger or a spoon. You will feel and initial resistance by the fluid and then it will slowly release.

Step 2: The Fluid Itself

You will notice if you leave the fluid unattended for a spell, it will separate into two parts and solid will be on the bottom of the container. Simply mix it up once again to regain the non-Newtonian fluid texture.

As you poke and prod at the mixture, you can see and feel (if you use your hands) the mixture turning solid into liquid or vice versa. Get hands on! The texture is great to feel and will keep you occupied for hours on end!

After messing around for a bit, add more corn starch. This results in a more solidified liquid and you can better feel the reactions.

Watch the attached video for a moving preview of the non-Newtonian fluid!

They've actually found that this property is shown in a suspension of silicon beads (nanosized) in (poly)ethylene glycol. Kevlar soaked in this is more resistant to bullets and 4 layers of soaked kevlar performs as well as 14 layers of normal kevlar.

Fortunately for law-enforcement (and unfortunately for Adam and Jaimie), a single data-point doesn't really prove anything. There's already a good bit of testing and exploring of non-Newtonian fluids for armor, so yeah, it's on its way!

by the way, in the experimenting: ice, im pretty sure the lines are just from the nnf not freezing like a lower viscosity liquid would. liquids freeze from the surface they are contained in to the center of them, because solids cool faster than liquids. solids shrink when cooled to an extreme degree, while liquids expand. (note: gases can be frozen at temperatures close to absolute zero, theoretically) so your nnf could do something in between and leave air under cracks in the surface of it. try putting the nnf in a measuring cup and measure the difference before and after.